Equestria on the Brink

by G-Money

Chapter 11

Chapter 11

It wasn’t long before a light was visible over the horizon. The chariot soared onward through the black-blue sky, continuing its northward journey towards the city ahead.

“That thar’ll be Los Pegasus,” announced Applejack.

Twilight studied the horizon. There was indeed a light in the distance, but it wasn’t the familiar hue of office buildings and apartments that she remembered from the images in her books about Los Pegasus. No, this was a light that was becoming all-too familiar: the flaming wake left by the troll horde. Its path of destruction was evident by the large conflagration that now engulfed the region.

The ponies couldn’t bring themselves to words as they witnessed yet another catastrophic defeat at the hands of the slobbering green invaders. Looking on from above, Applejack saw trees falling left and right to clear a path for the mindless monsters. What would be the next Equestrian city to fall?

Twilight surveyed the sky, hoping against all hope to see her friend flying amongst a legion of the brave. But there were no pegasi in sight. There were no ponies visible below, either, and Twilight wondered if everypony had already been consumed by the horde.

“The probability of survival for Rainbow Dash is rather high,” she said, trying to reassure herself more than anything else. “She can fly, and she’s always come through before, so we’ve got to trust that she’ll come through for us this time. She said she’d meet us at noon, and we’d be letting her down as friends if we didn’t show up for her.”

Applejack hesitated before replying, casting a melancholic gaze at the base of the chariot. “I’d sure like to think that, Twilight, but…we’ve a’got to take a darn good look around us.”

Twilight once more scanned the surrounding chaos. The night was illuminated by the flames of the burning city and nearby forest, flames which were lofting large billows of smoke into the clouds. The once-bustling city was now deserted, save for but a few troll patrols. The bulk of the troll forces were headed south, en route to what was presumably their next siege. Their next assault. Their next slaughter of innocents. A carnage that couldn’t be stopped…

Twilight snapped out of her defeatist train of thought. “No, we have to hope! We have to trust in our friend. Just the two of us would be unlikely to succeed when invading the troll homeland, but having a pegasus on our side would give us an edge. We need Rainbow Dash!”

Applejack sighed dejectedly. “Ah sure hope she’s out there, Twi, but it sure ain’t looking too good. Besides, how would we go about findin’ out when it’s noontime? This chariot ain’t got no clock.”

Twilight looked around for inspiration. She recalled reading that Los Pegasus had a great clock tower that shone like a beacon over the city.

“If we can find the clock tower, we’ll know what time it is! And then we’ll know when to go to the courtyard to meet up with Rainbow Dash.”

She flew the chariot around the decimated city, carefully flying highly enough not to be spotted by the odd troll patrol. After circling several times, they saw a sight that confirmed their worst fears; like much of the rest of the city, the clock tower had been hit by a barrage of troll firebombs and now lay toppled in the middle of a street.

“I knew this wasn’t no good,” quipped Applejack. “They done knocked down our houses, they done knocked down our spirits, and now they’ve even gone and knocked down our clocks!”

Twilight saw that her friend was right. Everything in the city had been destroyed by the trolls, and her hope of ever seeing Rainbow Dash again was becoming dimmer by the second. But she wasn’t ready to give in just yet.

The unicorn flew the chariot in closer to the clock, abandoning the caution with which she had previously circled the wreckage of the city’s skyline. She landed the chariot right on the remains of the clock tower, desperately hoping that it could somehow still function despite the crash.

“Why, I’ll be…” expressed a surprised Applejack beside her.

Sure enough, the great hands of the clock were still moving, despite having crashed to the ground with the building.

Twilight was grateful to see the hands still functioning, but it wasn’t anywhere close to noon. It was still early evening, so they had nearly a day to wait before meeting up with Rainbow Dash.

At least, she thought it was early evening. It could’ve been 7:44 AM, with the sun being gone and all, but Twilight Sparkle still had a decent grasp on time. It hadn’t been that long since her whole world had been shattered.

“Well, looks like ya were right, partner. By some miracle, this here gadget’s still going strong! Why’nt we get rested up while waiting for noon to come around?”

“Yeah, that’s not a bad idea,” replied Twilight as she directed the chariot to a small hiding place beneath some nearby rubble. The two ponies drifted to sleep, hoping that the next day would have brighter news in store for them.

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Twilight Sparkle and Applejack awoke the next morning after a much-needed night of sleep. Neither one had a pleasant night, and the trolls seemed to torment them even in the realm of dreams. But dreams were all they were – despite being jolted awake in terror by gruesome images of their friends being eaten by dripping monsters, they awoke to find that the trolls had not found them during the night. After re-acquainting herself with the surroundings, Twilight once again flew the chariot towards the collapsed clock tower.

10:12, read the monolithic hands.

It was still weird to see the sky pitch-black in the morning. Twilight noticed that it was even darker than it had been when they had gone to bed, since many of the fires had burnt out. Nonetheless, the flames still engulfed large swathes of the city and exuded an eerie glow throughout the empty streets.

“Let’s go to the courtyard and wait for Rainbow Dash. I’m sure she’ll turn up soon.” The unicorn spoke confidently, as if her trust in her friend would foretell her arrival.

The two ponies flew to Los Pegasus’s central courtyard and waited.

“It’s still early,” said Applejack in an attempt to keep up her friend’s spirits. “She’ll a’be here when she said she’d a’be.”

Twilight and Applejack paced restlessly through the courtyard.

11:00.

No sign of Rainbow Dash.

11:30.

“Well, she flew off to help that legion of pegasi, so I’m sure they went somewhere else once Los Pegasus fell,” calculated Twilight Sparkle. “She’s probably already broken away from the group and is on her way to meet us here now.”

12:00.

Applejack pondered why there weren’t any bodies lying around Los Pegasus. The streets were relatively clean, save for splotches of blood and green goo here and there. There weren’t any dead ponies in sight. Maybe Rainbow Dash hadn’t come here after all. Maybe she went to help out at a battle far off, and she really was coming back now? Twilight was usually pretty insightful, and if she thought that there was a chance, then it was worth waiting a little longer.

1:00.

A loud clack sounded off in the distance, and Twilight instantly hopped into the chariot to get a closer look. But it was just a building that had succumbed to the pressures of other buildings pushing it down – a whole city block had been done in by the trolls, and it was just now giving way under the stress of the combined steel. Twilight scoured the rubble for any sign that maybe Rainbow Dash had been inside, that maybe she’d bumped into it to cause it to fall – but there were no pegasi to be found.

2:00.

The courtyard remained empty, lacking any sounds save the breathing of the two waiting ponies.

3:00.

Applejack ventured into the wreckage of a nearby grocery store and brought back some food and supplies. “Thought you might need a bit of a pick-me-up,” she said with a smile as she handed her findings to Twilight. But the unicorn just slouched even more, feeling as dejected as ever.

“I don’t think she’s coming,” she finally admitted. “This was all a waste of time.”

“Now don’t you go sayin’ that, partner,” replied Applejack in an attempt to lift her friend’s mood. “We gave it everything we had, and we didn’t let out friend down. We were here for her all the way, and you done right by me. All we can say is that we tried.”

“Yeah, I guess,” sighed the purple unicorn.

3:34.

A troll patrol finally wandered into the courtyard, shocked to find two ponies slouched beside a chariot. They bellowed some sort of war cry to call the others and then began to charge. Wielding their clubs high above their heads, they sprinted at the two unassuming ponies. But their loud steps shook the ground as they ran, alerting their would-be prey to their presence.

Twilight murmured as she got up. “I think it’s time we get out of here.”

“Those beasts’ll pay fer what they’ve done to our friends!” Applejack screamed in a fit of frustration as she entered the chariot.

Twilight activated her magic and lifted the vehicle off the ground, having plenty of time to evade the troll pursuers. It was now time for their northward journey towards the troll base, a suicidal thrust into the heart of all that had destroyed her people. The vicious savages who had taken her friends from her had surely come from a well-defended homeland, and centuries of uninterrupted fortification would make it as impregnable as any fortress she’d ever read about.

Things could only get worse.